Arrived in London

Someone fed happy pills to the TSA agents at CLT!  We had an amazing 5 minutes going through security with all agents smiling and making small talk. Saturday afternoon must be a good time to fly; empty airport with flights leaving on time and arrival on time in Chicago.  Still felt strange to fly west to go east!  Starbucks was a welcome sight before boarding (again on time). Left in a rainstorm but flight was uneventful  and we arrived ON TIME.

Unfortunately we had to wait for almost 15 minutes for a gate and 30 minutes to get through customs before we could  get our luggage.  The good news was that both of our bags arrived with us…then the task was to find the driver who was to take us to our hotel (we had an hour and 15 minutes from our arrival time before we’d have to pay additional per minute of wait time . We found him by the Information Desk just as we were told with15 minutes to spare.  And we were on our way to the JW near Hyde Park.

We had hoped to find a vending machine at Heathrow to buy our Oyster transportation cards which allow one to choose how much money to put on the card and then use it for all buses and the underground until the money runs out and add more money as you need to.  The card costs 2 GBP which is refundable if you turn the card in when you leave OR you can keep the card and add to it on a future trip.  Guess we’ll have to wait until our first visit to a Tube station and get the cards there.  After little sleep on a red eye flight, I didn’t think it worthwhile to deal with the train and taxi alternative.  Several good reviews (on Cruise Critic, of course) for Executive Airport Cars made the choice easy for us.  We were not disappointed.  Check-in went smoothly; we received a lovely letter informing us of the Executive Lounge where we could have continental breakfast; traditional cream tea in the afternoon and drinks and hors d’oevres in the evening. The best news was that WiFi is complimentary in the lounge.  That’s a real bonus since the charge for Internet access in the room is 20 GBP per day!

After showers and a nap for Art, we headed to the lounge to check it out.  Lovely little sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, fancy coffee machine with espresso,cappuccino, etc. and, of course, tea.  So here I am updating my blog with free WiF i, drinking tea and enjoying the ambience of a traditional old British hotel.  No off to wander around Hyde Park directly across the street.